Get Rid of the Party Conventions

Having been heavily involved in the planning of a couple of G.O.P. conventions, my view is, we should just scrap 'em. Cancel 'em. Just figure out an appropriate forum for the nominee to give an acceptance speech and be done with it.

Watching the conventions is like tuning in to a movie where you already know the plot and the ending.

The initial attraction of a political convention was that often the outcome was not preordained. There was at least some element of surprise. But, now it's like tuning in to a movie where you already know the plot and the ending. It's just not that interesting. Four days of a bunch of mostly boring politicians giving speeches from a huge stage in a cavernous auditorium? Please.

Every conversation I had about the conventions at the initial planning stages went something like this: "Why does it have to be four days? And why does it have to be in a convention hall? Why does there have to be a roll call vote? Why can't we do something different?"

The answer to all those questions is the convention doesn't have to do any of those things.

But because of not much more than the physics of tradition, the parties just keep rolling over and pretty much keep doing what they've been doing for decades.

Oh, they'll reveal with great hoopla a new never-seen-before podium design. Or do something from a remote location. They will try something edgy with music or entertainment. But, at the end of the day, it's going feel as new and different as a Barnum & Bailey circus.